Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has gone cold on Juan Mata because Willian is so hot

Juan Mata could not disguise his dark mood as he posed for a photo with a Chelsea fan just before boarding the team coach to leave St Mary’s Stadium.

The ignominy of being substituted just eight minutes into the second half was clearly the breaking point for him. After all, his frustration over a career that is now going backwards at Stamford Bridge was evident as he gestured angrily when taking his seat in the dug-out.

While he later graciously acquiesced to the supporter’s request, there was no hint of a smile for the camera, just a stern look.

Jose Mourinho may be the source of his angst due to increasingly limited opportunities and being left out of the side for the major Premier League games against Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool this term. But in many ways, the fine form of summer signing Willian is the cause of his problems.

Mata has done everything Mourinho has asked for in terms of improving his effort to track back to help the defence and pressing the opposition from an advanced position. The problem is Willian is simply doing it better.

As the Brazilian showed in an inspired performance in the 2-1 victory over Liverpool, his ability and speed to help out in attack and defence is vital to Mourinho’s game-plan.

Mata had the opportunity to make a similar impact at Southampton yesterday, yet was muted in the torrential rain. To make matters worse, Willian, along with Mourinho’s favoured No10 Oscar, came on to replace Mata and Andre Schurrle and the scoreline was quickly transformed from 0-0 to a convincing 3-0.

There were many doubters, even among Chelsea’s fanbase, when the club decided to steal Willian from under Tottenham’s noses in August and pay Anzhi Makhachkala £30million for him.

His growing presence in the first team at Mata’s expense in recent months continued to raise eyebrows but Chelsea are now playing their best football of the campaign and looking more like the team Mourinho wants.

The understanding between Willian, Oscar and Eden Hazard behind the main striker looks more impressive with each game.

Indeed, Oscar set up the first two goals, the second of which was superbly finished by Willian before Hazard played the former in to net the third.

While not talking about the Mata situation, goalkeeper Petr Cech believes Willian has silenced the critics and is hard to drop given his form.

He told Standard Sport: “The questions were raised because he came from Anzhi Makhachkala where he was unlucky with injuries so he didn’t play much. Everyone was saying ‘Chelsea bought a player who didn’t play’.

“But from day one since he came here, he has worked really hard. He was waiting for his chance and since his first start you can see he is taking his opportunity.

“He has been absolutely brilliant. He keeps working for the team, making the difference, scoring goals, defending. I thought I’d never see anyone running more than Ramires but he’s really there.

“It’s fantastic to see he’s enjoying his football, enjoying his life in the club. This is important. He can only get better. You always give players a few months to settle because the Premier League is different to anywhere else. It’s very pleasing to see his progress.”

Mata was not the only Spaniard in Chelsea’s ranks to be in no mood to celebrate. Fernando Torres became the first Chelsea striker to score away from home in the League for 13 months when he found the net on the hour mark after Oscar’s deflected cross came back off the woodwork.

However, he simply uttered “it was a great assist from the post” before walking off and considering it was just his third League goal of the campaign, then perhaps he was right not to get carried away.

Yet as the League takes a break for the FA Cup third round, Chelsea can be satisfied with their work over the busy festive period.

A return of 10 points from a possible 12, which included an impressive draw at title rivals Arsenal and victory over Liverpool, has given the strongest indication yet that they can genuinely challenge for the title. Mourinho continues to label Manchester City as favourites and speaks about Chelsea being contenders next term after making a couple of “clinical signings” but the manager’s mind games are looking rather transparent.

The news that Frank Lampard (leg) and Branislav Ivanovic (knee) are set to miss the rest of the month is a setback but self-belief is growing at Stamford Bridge. Unfortunately for Mata, Willian is now one of the main men providing it.